11.16.2009

"If any vegans came over for dinner, I could whip them up a salad, then explain my philosophy on being a carnivore: If God had not intended for us to eat animals, how come He made them out of meat?" -Sarah Palin

We're made of meat too, does that mean we can eat each other? I bet Sarah Palin would taste gamey as hell.

11.14.2009

I almost started looking at job listings on Craigslist when it dawned on me that I don't have to do that anymore. What a good feeling.

I start my new job on Monday. Will report back on that later.

Yesterday at my temp job a woman asked me, "So do you think you'll ever give up being vegan someday?"

I don't understand what type of answer she was looking for. I mean, is this a stupid question to anyone else besides me? Why would I say anything other than no to that question? If there was any reason I thought I would start eating meat and cheese again someday, why would I be vegan right now?

What people often don't realize is that veganism is a lifestyle. It's not just some fad diet I'm trying out.

It's a choice I made that goes beyond what I eat. It's about living responsibly; it's about the decisions I make and how they will affect the environment/other people/animals. The decision to be vegan has opened my eyes to so many issues that I never knew I cared about so passionately. Not only do I purchase food that doesn't contain animal products, but now I also want to purchase products that weren't made by exploited workers, or that won't last a million years in a landfill, or put the least strain on resources and create less pollution during their journey to the shelf/hangar. I want my choices and purchases (or lack thereof) to be my vote. I'm voting for companies that want to do the right thing by using recycled materials or companies that strive for sustainability.

So yes, I'm vegan, but that isn't all I'm about. I'm not just some hippie that feels sorry for animals that die for your steak. I care about the overall health and well-being of the earth and all its citizens- I think I have the best interests of everyone at heart, even if I sometimes feel like I'm carrying the burden of it all by myself. It's worth it to know I did my best while I was here.

11.09.2009

Ellen Degeneres: Why Go Vegan?

Living a Cruelty-free LifestyleIt is obvious that in order to eat meat, an animal had to be slaughtered, but the issues of cruelty go far beyond just the death of an animal. The lives of animals raised to be slaughtered are miserable. Often packed into close quarters, many animals are unable to lie down or turn around, and the hygiene is terrible. Many slaughter methods are imperfect and cause great suffering before death.

Even animals that are not raised for food are poorly treated. Chickens that provide eggs for consumption often spend their entire lives in a cage no bigger than a piece of notebook paper, and dairy cows face abuse and mistreatment in addition to being injected with hormones to facilitate milk production. A person who wishes to live a cruelty-free life chooses to remove him or herself from any participation in this process.

Help the EnvironmentFarms used for meat and dairy production are incredible sources of waste and air pollution. One large farm can create more waste than the entire city of Los Angeles! The Environmental Protection Agency considers manure one of the top 10 pollutants, and US farms create 2 billion tons of it each year.

Reduce FamineMore than 70% of grain produced in the US is fed to animals raised for slaughter. In order to get just one pound of meat, it takes a full 15 pounds of grain. If this grain were given directly to people, there would be enough food to feed everyone. Also, the land that the animals are raised on can be used to grow significantly more food than the land currently provides.

Save WaterWith drought-like conditions all across the country, water is getting more and more valuable. It takes 2,500 gallons of water to produce just one pound of meat, as opposed to just 25 gallons for one pound of grain.

It's Never Been Easier!Major supermarkets are carrying more vegan-friendly options than ever before, and thanks to the Internet, you can have food sent directly to your own home. It has never been easier to make the transition to being vegan, so why not now?

I don't feel that the story was urgent enough though (I blame Terry Gross and her love for fish and obvious unwillingness to stop eating it- haha). It did make some very good points though, about how the fishing industry is impacting our environment. If only people would realize that the only true way to stop the madness is to simply stop eating fish. There are no "safer" choices anymore. The idea that switching to different fish when a certain species is diminished is effectively wiping out entire ecosystems.

Trawlers with nets big enough to fit 6 jumbo jets side-by-side in them are being dragged across the ocean floor. That's a lot of fish. But these nets aren't selective; everything is raked up, from sea turtles, to coral reef dwellers, to sponges, and even smaller invertebrates. Basically, as Daniel Pauly states in the NPR segment, the ecosystem is being mowed down, like a forest transformed into a plowed field.